Characterising partially coherent optical fields
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Date
2019
Authors
Mredlana, Prince Maswazi
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Abstract
The characterisation of optical elds is an essential task in understanding propagation
and interaction with optical elements. The coherence of an optical
eld is an important factor in the consideration of a suitable characterisation
method and traditional characterisation methods are unsuitable for characterisation
for some elds across the coherence spectrum. Partially coherent beams
have an unstable intensity distribution that changes randomly over time and
an averaging function is more suitable to represent them. The Wigner Distribution
Function (WDF) is a phase-space function that employs the mutual
coherence function and can be used to represent and characterise beams across
the entire coherence spectrum. Using theoretical and experimental simulations,
we employ the WDF in characterising both coherent beams and partially coherent
beams. The simulations yield comparable characterisation parameters
and the parameters are also determined from a physical WDF generation experiment.
Description
UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND
Faculty of Science
School of Physics
Master of Science